Saturday, November 19, 2016

WRITTEN ON THE WIND (1956)

MORE 1001 MOVIES FROM THE 50's
(Post 7 of 10) 

Rock Hudson and Lauren Bacall will almost certainly
find each other by the end of Written on the Wind. Won't they?
It's interesting how some of The Fifties Hollywood dramas that prominent critics may have previously dismissed as "women's pictures" began to be taken seriously in later years by filmmakers as diverse as Rainer Werner Fassbinder and Todd Haynes. I've grown to like the few of these types of films from the 1950's (All That Heaven Allows is another one). Maybe they weren't necessarily an accurate picture of life of the era-but they sure seem to represent a certain time nonetheless. Not everything from the fifties could be noir or musicals or horror or biblical spectacles! These dramas at least had fairly real stories...or fairly real...at least involving...or maybe my tastes are just changing as I get older..Not that I feel like watching a Jeff Chandler marathon or anything...but there you have it.

And the Elisha Cook Jr. supporting player award goes to..William Schallert

William Schallert gives Rock Hudson a plot point he needs
and goes out the door to his next film
William Schallert is one of those actors I've seen in so many things over the years (primarily on television) that I think he's seeped into my subconscious as just about the ultimate TV background player. In Written on the Wind, his only scene is the one above where his only purpose is to (as a reporter) let Rock Hudson know that Lauren Bacall has gotten married. Pure exposition and then he walks off the stage and probably to another set to film another scene in another movie or show. Schallert is probably primarily remembered as the dad in The Patty Duke Show. But if you look at his long trail of credits, it basically includes every show I've ever seen in reruns: The Andy Griffith Show, Star Trek, The Twilight Zone, Leave It to Beaver, Get Smart, The Waltons, The Partridge Family...and way too many more to list. Schallert died in 2016 at the age of 93, leaving behind him a legacy of 379 IMDB credits.

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